Emails between August and September of 2012 expose the battle that brewed between the Mission: Impossible actor and his wife of five-and-a-half years, behind-the-scenes and away from the glare of their fans, as mud was slung from camp to camp.

Uncovered in the discovery phase of the explosive defamation lawsuit in which Cruise, 51, is suing Bauer Media (publisher of In Touch and Life & Style) for a cover story that he’d “abandoned” his daughterSuri after the split with Holmes, the emails purport to detail attempts to shine 34-year-old Holmes in a positive light, while smearing Cruise’s reputation as a dad.

In August 2012, In Touch ran a cover story with Cruise and Suri, 7, on its cover titled, Forgetting Mommy Already? The feature claimed the mega-star was trying to win over his innocent daughter by spoiling her with lavish gifts and a trip to Disney World in Florida on a private jet — a story his camp, in back-and-forth emails, labelled as being “in true scum form.”

What’s more, Cruise confidantes believed Holmes was desperately trying to discredit her former husband, even going as far as to enlist the help of a pal, Jeanne Yang — the stylist-to-the-stars and co-owner of Holmes & Yang fashion line — to be the middle-man who would trash Cruise to various media outlets.

“Which will only cause Jeanne Yang to keep lying and speaking and keeping these stories going each week,” Cruise’s publicist, Amanda Lundberg, bemoaned to the actor’s team in one email chain, including his sister Lee Ann De Vette.

“A very good friend/editor slipped and said her name to me on Monday,” Lundberg added, explaining how she knew Yang was the apparent leak.

“Two good sources told me it is all her… She likely told the press that they stayed at Cinderella’s castle as no one really knew… Every single person tells me she is speaking to the press constantly.”

But according to Cruise’s entourage, it wasn’t just Yang who was helping to restore Holmes’ image. It was alleged in the emails that Holmes’ own team of publicists had a hotline to New York-based photographers and would call as soon as the ex-Dawson’s Creek star planned on leaving her Chelsea apartment building.

“[Katie’s publicist] calls the paparazzi every time K gets ready to leave the building as the doormen are always surprised how they suddenly show up when she is about to leave,” Lundberg alleged, in another email.

And as the stories kept coming, Cruise’s people became even more incensed.

When presented with a story that Bauer planned to publish about Suri being scared for her first day of school because her father made her nervous by telling her she’d have to follow rules and listen to her teachers, Cruise’s legal team fired back calling the accusations were “outrageous” and “defamatory.”

A lawyer, Aaron Moss, wrote how the claims were “completely, 100% false. Mr. Cruise never made these statements, nor did he make any other statements that were intended to scare or did scare his daughter about school.

Said one aide, “If you’re right, I think it’s time that he sent a letter to KH’s lawyers about Yang.”

However, the final straw was still to come: Bauer Media sought comment from Cruise’s camp in September 2012 about him missing Suri’s first day of school, which supposedly left Holmes deeply upset.

The potential for the story to be exposed prompted the Oscar-nominees’ team to reach out to his ex-wife’s team in an effort to stop the blood-letting, once and for all.

“I think this is getting more disgusting if that is even possible. And this should be curbed whenever possible — their daughter doesn’t deserve these incessant lies,” a defiant Lundberg wrote to Holmes’ rep, Nanci Ryder, in another email.

“Can you guys comment and deny this as we all know this is not true. I think that would help stop this which of course is in Suri’s best interest as well.